Help! supercharging 1987 c4 corvette

[marinucci]

i was thinking of putting in a supercharger from pro charger in the car
the questions i need answered are.


1. can it be done without screwing up the current engine

2. do you need a larger radiator?

3. do you need a different transmission

4. do you have to make major alterations to engine apart from installing supercharger. i dont want to spend too much.

5 how many if any more modifications are needed.

 

[boomdriver]

i was thinking of putting in a supercharger from pro charger in the car
the questions i need answered are.


1. can it be done without screwing up the current engine

2. do you need a larger radiator?

3. do you need a different transmission

4. do you have to make major alterations to engine apart from installing supercharger. i dont want to spend too much.

5 how many if any more modifications are needed.

1. probably not

2. yes

3. depends

4.YES

5. lots


It's not a simple "bolt on" HP kit.
If you are limited by a budget, use No2.

 

[marinucci]

help

what is number 2. is it worh it

 

[felicity2215]

I think he meant N2O. Nitrous oxide.

 

[boomdriver]

I think he meant N2O. Nitrous oxide.

yup.

 

[Rogue]

I looked into this last year for my C4. There is (was) a company that offered a Vortech Supercharger kit for the C4 with their proprietary "Gaseus Intercooler", which is basically a water injection system to cool the intake charge. Do multiple search on the internet for C4 mods and you will come up at least a dozen sites throughout the country. The science to make the C4 with the L98 go fast is well known and the stage by stage mods are easily available.

Having said that, your condition in #4, not spending "a lot of money" is a big constraint. Putting a supercharger on your C4 today and spending A LOT of money go hand in hand. The kit itself is around $5k. The labor to install that will run you another $500-$700 unless you do it yourself. It's not a simple bolt on but it can be done by a competent mechanic with the right tools and lots of time.

In the end though, you will end up with an L98 with another 70 bhp on it. You would be much better served putting a crate motor in there. A crate motor like a ZZ350 will be around $3k nowadays. If you use all your existing parts, you will end up with at least 60 bhp. If you use freer flowing exhaust, intake, and a new chip to take advantage of the better breathing you will get at least 100 bhp over your stock L98. Personally, I think the supercharger option on C4's is wasted $$ because the gain is not significant enough for the amount invested. But that's just me.

 

[1989 406]

We supercharged an 89 in 89. The total costs came to about 10K. This included a Paxton supercharger with water injection, 1.6 rollers, a Dana 44 with 3:73's. The car went 12.19 on street tires at 109 with the smaller pulley, but then the supercharger went. The smaller pulley damaged it and it was about 1K back then to fix the supercharger.